4 Months (Don’t Believe It!)
Leading a Radical Remissions Workshop at The Healing Oasis
“If you want me God, I’m here. Take me as thou wilt, use me as thou must.”
I was beginning my final three days at the Healing Oasis with a swim in Echo Lake. The temperature had dipped the day before, and chilly mist was rising from the water, but wolves and loons could be heard as I dipped my shivering body into the invigorating depths, baptizing myself in the “peace that passeth all understanding”.
As I watched events unfold in the States, I had to be clear with myself how I would be regarding any conflict and escalation when I returned. I had friends of friends who were being illegally detained, and the assassinations of Charlie Kirk and Melissa Hortman, amongst others, did not bode well for peace.
I remember, when I was a young teenager, our dad took us to visit his parents, Grandma Jenkins, and our step-grandfather Bud Jenkins, and to enjoy the Easter dinner Grandma Cora had prepared. My grandparents were dangerous folks, in many ways, but Bud in particular was a virulent war-hawk, ex-military, and prone to violence. Somehow the topic of Vietnam came up, and true to being my mother’s son, I proudly declared “I am a pacifist”.
Bud flew into a rage, and nearly ordered us all out of his home. Grandma Cora mollified him, however, and things settled down. But that was my statement of purpose.
At school, when a fight broke out and all the kids ran to see, I would walk in the other direction. I was a shy and gentle kid, perverse, artistic. I ultimately just wanted to leave home and, in my own way, rebel, which I did as soon as I turned 18.
Up here in Canada (where all the Vietnam draft dodgers used to go), I now seek my healing. In this natural treatment facility, I am receiving a new protocol involving pancreatic enzymes, with all the other treatments offered for a powerful and invigorating renewal. I feel my prognosis is good - and I feel incredible.
But, I need to fully engage with a future I want to live in. Anxiety about world and local events is the dubious luxury of others, but for me, as my beloved monk Brother Satyananda says, there is now “no room for darkness”.
I am indeed feeling tremendous. A glowing vitality has replaced my ghostly chemo pallor, and a renewed strength allows me to cook and coach all day to serve the Healing Oasis guests. I have been here for nearly six weeks.
I think I can accurately say that I have tried to be a 24/7 life, leadership and cancer coach during my stay here. While directly coaching and leading workshops is only a small part of my time spent here, I interact with the guests constantly, and it requires that I show up as a leader. As I have learned from my wonderful coaches and teachers, leadership is not defined by an organizational role or position, but comes through those who behave in a way that models and inspires.
I wish to write eloquently of peace. It appears to be foundational to our natural state of being. You may directly access it through meditation and silence; for fearless action, it requires passion. Peace in action draws upon your essential energy - the same “chi” “prana” energy that is the Soul of healing. It is the life force that will allow you to, despite fear, show up to defend those under siege, to calmly and boldly speak truth to power, and to be the energetic presence of love, not only during deep meditation (which heals the world), but in every encounter.
I now take a stand to love all unconditionally, on both sides of the divide, and to become active as needed through the context of this inner peace.
As I return to Los Angeles (just in time to see my favorite band at the Hollywood Bowl), I contemplate the coming autumn and winter. I will be supporting both the University of Santa Monica’s new Soul-Centered Living flagship program, and Carolyn Freyer-Jones’s Coaching Success School as their AV producer.
USM launched my life into hyperspace. Everything that I have now, which feels like a perfect life, has been visited on me through recovery, USM, my meditation and spiritual practice, and coaching. If you are called to enroll, I am an affiliate, and all enrollment through the links below will go directly towards generating medical expenses for me.
I will also be writing my first two books, and beginning my studies at BLU University. Research on those who have experienced a remission of chronic illness, especially a diagnosis considered medically terminal, have placed “having a strong reason for living” as a factor in their remission. I live into my glorious future!
What will my new medical tests show? Yes, there will be data and cancer marker test results, but they don’t tell the whole story.
Natural healing treatments focus on increasing your immune system’s functioning, detoxing your body, reducing systemic inflammation, and aiding your digestion for better nutrient absorption. Emotional, energetic and spiritual work focuses on creating better and clearer access to your life force and your body’s inherent wisdom. This is ultimately how we heal - Spirit-guided decisions, joyful, liberated action, and direct experiential communion with that endless and infinite expanse of unconditional Divine Love.
It is who we are.
Link to the USM application: https://myrootabl.com/r/0WAffmNT?rootabl=slloyd
Link to book a call with admissions: https://myrootabl.com/r/7aTj7jqr?rootabl=slloyd
Returned! Mark and I seeing LCD Soundsystem at the Hollywood Bowl